I was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, and WECT has always been the news channel on in my house. In fact, my dad's first job out of college was at WECT. I started shadowing news anchor, Frances Weller, during high school, which gave me a glimpse of what a real newsroom is like. She let me sit in on the afternoon pitch meeting, (at the time I had no idea what they were doing) help her write scripts, and watch her on the news live. As I watched her do her own hair and makeup at her desk 2 minutes before she went on, I quickly realized that "glamourous" is not a word used to describe live television. I really wanted an internship at WECT in high school but they are only offered for college credit... so I had to wait.
After my freshman year of college, I was dying to get a real journalism internship to gain as much experience early on as I could. My major is broadcast journalism and I was going to be in Wilmington all summer, so it just seemed right to intern at WECT. Unfortunately, the intern spots had already been filled so I was very disappointed at the time. Luckily, this summer, my long awaited desire to intern with WECT was fulfilled and I couldn't wait to get started.
Like most interns, I had no idea what to expect. One of the anchors, Jon explained that I would mostly be going out with different reporters on stories each day and since it is a working newsroom on tight deadlines, there wouldn't be specific tasks I would be assigned. I would have to learn by observing, asking questions, and trying things on my own. "You'll get out what you put into this internship" was great advice.
From the first day, I heard the words "one man band" and "multimedia journalist," and I quickly found out exactly what that meant. Reporters are expected to do a lot... including finding stories every day, making contacts to set up interviews, shooting their own video, writing scripts, editing on a deadline, tracking their voice, and finally, being on air. The actual TV part of it is very small, and reporters have to be self-motivated because you are on your own every day (unless, of course, you're with an intern like me).
Most of the time reporters have to cover tragedy, death, fires, court cases, or just outright boring stories in random counties. So when a special story comes around that you feel has to be told, it is rare. My favorite story that I got the chance to work on, was about a 4-year-old little boy named Christian Miller, who is the son of my personal trainer. He was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia last year, but he is doing great now and still comes to boot camp with his dad every day, bringing extra joy to all the women. It was my idea to do the story and with the help of one of the reporters, we made it happen and we got so much positive feedback.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH. It brought tears to my eyes. I truly appreciate you doing this. It was great and made me cry. I still can't believe Christian had to go through this and still is but he is our superhero." -- Christian's mother
It always feels good and gratifying to do something for someone else and make them smile, and this particular story made me so happy.
One thing I learned is that to do this job you have to really want it, you have to truly care about the news business, and if so then it's worth it. You don't get holidays off like everyone else because the news doesn't stop. The goal is to not stay in a small market forever, so you must have the work ethic to continue bettering yourself by gaining experience, and eventually moving up. From the two months at my internship, I became a true "newsie." I love watching the news and reading through stories on my news apps even more than I did before because I feel more included in it. I've seen how the magic happens firsthand. I've also loved seeing how close everyone in the newsroom is... it truly is like a family.
In my future career, I will be happy as long as I feel like I'm doing something that matters and something that I'm passionate about. And news does matter. It can be difficult, scary and emotional, but it can also be fun, exciting, and very rewarding. As hard as being a reporter can be sometimes, it is one of the unique types of jobs where you get the opportunity to go to a new place and meet new people every single day.
The wonderful thing about journalism is that there are so many different avenues available to pursue, especially since the digital side of it has become so prominent. The media world is constantly changing and one of the most important qualities to have as a journalist is the ability to adapt. I've always been interested in telling other peoples stories... and everyone has a story to tell.
My internship didn't quite fall in line with my expectations, but most things in life never do. It opened my eyes to the reality of working in a newsroom and the multiple responsibilities of reporters, especially the pressure of time. My main takeaway: being a reporter is not what you imagine and it is not easy. My first internship allowed me to see the many possibilities of my career and I would consider myself very lucky to work at WECT as my first job out of college.
I learned that no matter what you choose to do in life, make sure you enjoy it because that is the most important thing.
